Iannone 2nd in Sepang MotoGP Test As Rins Gains Valuable Experience

Road Racing

Andrea Iannone 2nd Alex Rins 12th

After three days of testing, the first important appointment of the 2017 season completed today for Team SUZUKI ECSTAR with crucial information from Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins gathered for the future developments.

Iannones focus for today was to work on the race pace and the 1:59.452 he did yesterday puts him second overall in the combined classification of the test. Rins performance today was faster than yesterday with a 2:00.057 that puts him in 12th place in the combined classification.

The three-day session saw the introduction of new improvements developed during winter and verified their efficiency; and the outcome is very positive, with both riders comfortable and confident with the new specs of the engine and chassis.

The Factory GSX-RR has not been completely renewed for 2017, the Suzuki Factory engineers have focused on small improvements to capitalise on the already-proven points of strength and have more options in configurations that can fix any small weaknesses. The next tests in Australia and Qatar will see the introduction of further upgrades and the development work will continue, although the engine has been approved by both riders, appreciating the behaviour of the new specifications.

Ken Kawauchi Technical Manager:

First test is always strange because you are always eager to try so many new things, but on the other hand you are a bit worried for the results in testing new parts. The weather conditions sometimes affected our program as we couldnt ride because of the wet asphalt, but all-in-all we are very happy. Andrea did a great lap-time already on the second day and today he could do a long run, but unfortunately, he crashed. Despite this issue, we found many areas where we can improve before the first race and this is a good thing. Regarding Alex, it was a big surprise for us because of his improvement and honestly, we didnt expect his lap-time because Sepang was only his first real MotoGP test after the crash in Valencia. He did a good job. Both riders gave us the same direction for the development of the bike and this is really important for us to improve. We dont have so much time before Phillip Island to prepare things, but we will do our best to get some improvements there. Our aim now is continuing to improve the bike on the basis of the new 2017 engine.

Andrea Iannone:

The day was positive and my feeling is good. Today we tried to focus on the race pace, finding a good balance of the bike and consistency in performance, and we improved session by session, which is positive. Also, the settings got some improvements, especially on the front; yesterday we experienced some vibrations in braking and slow corners and today we managed to find a good solution. Overall I am very satisfied with these three-days, we worked very well with my team and the feeling with the GSX-RR is very positive. Of course, we have many areas we can improve upon, but now our engineers have much data to work on and for sure we will be able to make further steps forward.

Alex Rins:

My feelings are very positive, I felt very confident on the bike and also the back is ok. In these three days we worked hard mainly to find the feeling with the bike, to adapt my riding style properly and also be more effective onboard. Today we could also work on the geometry of the bike and the outcomes were positive. I will need more and more kilometres, I need to better-understand the machine and grow myself. Its mainly a matter of experience, because already today I saw that as the more experience I get, the better the times become.